In this context, a “network service” is a software system or application designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a communications network. Typically, a server computing device (or aggregated devices) may host a network service that provides information or accomplishes a task in a predefined way (e.g., provide the current temperature for a given location, etc.). Another computing device, such as a client computing device, may make use of this network service (e.g., via a series of messages across a communications network, etc.) to accomplish a task (e.g., find out what the current temperature at a given location is, etc.).
Generally, a network service includes an interface described in a machine-processable format. Often, other computing devices or systems interact with the network service in a manner prescribed by its description using messages, typically conveyed using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS).